WASHINGTON, DC—Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn will play a leading role in the annual Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage this weekend, March 4 – 6, 2011, in Alabama. The pilgrimage, hosted by the Faith & Politics Institute and co-chaired by Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) coincides with the anniversary of the historic Bloody Sunday march in 1965, and stops at major sites of the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Clyburn will also deliver a keynote address to the Alabama State University HBCU Conference on Monday.
Clyburn will deliver the morning message, Sunday March 6, during the 11:00 AM service at the Historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma. Despite a ban on protest marches by Governor George Wallace, on Sunday March 7, 1965, about 600 black protestors gathered outside Brown Chapel to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. But six blocks from the church, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge the marchers were confronted with violence from state troopers in a clash that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” After morning services, participants of the pilgrimage will trace the steps of those protestors from Brown Chapel across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
There are multiple opportunities to follow the pilgrimage virtually: on the Faith and Politics Website, Facebook, and Twitter. For details on the schedule click here. Also participating in the pilgrimage are noted civil rights leaders and Americans such as Dr. Douglas Brinkley, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary), Dr. Bob Zellner, Bernard Lafayette, Bettie Mae Fikes, Carolyn McKinstry and Dorothy Cotton. For more detail about the pilgrimage and media availabilities please contact media@faithandpolitics.org.
On Monday, March 7, Clyburn will deliver a keynote address to the Alabama State University HBCU Conference titled, Entrepreneurship: Globalization of The New South. Alabama State, one of 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), is the host institution for a conference focused on business development, entrepreneurship, grants, contracting and fellowships, with a special focus in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.